Santa Anita Park will have thoroughbred racing from December 26 through April 22, a season expanded by two weeks. The horse racing bill AB 3383 provided other changes in the sport that will affect Santa Anita Park.
A special 8 page supplement offers a variety of articles on the Santa Anita Park track, its history, activities, facilities and its contributions to the community.
A building contract for a senior citizens center has been awarded to Nationwide Construction of Downey. Groundbreaking is anticipated in three months. The center will be built on the triangular piece of land at the intersection of Holly Avenue and Campus and Huntington Drives across from the Chamber of Commerce.
The Anheuser-Busch Inc. brewery will move its Clydesdale horses from the Santa Anita Park race track stables because of a disagreement in the cost of housing them.
Groundbreaking ceremonies were held Monday for Santa Anita Medical Plaza, an 86,000 square foot medical office building located on a portion of the Santa Anita Park race track property, across from the Methodist Hospital of Southern California.
A bill that could generate an estimated $700,000 yearly in additional race track revenue for Arcadia cleared the State Assembly on Thursday and now heads for the Senate. The bill, AB 2780, seeks to authorize Arcadia and other cities to collect up to 1/3 of 1% of the total amount bet at a race track within their boundaries if the city were willing to forego any tax on admissions or parking. Arcadia has never charged a parking tax at Santa Anita Park. Arcadia city officials are neutral at this point, according to City Manager George Watts.
Santa Anita Park completed its most successful season ever with $445 million wagered. Total attendance was also an all-time high. The admission tax netted the city $1.1 million. The Park's other contributions to the city are discussed.
Arcadia Olympic Commission has opened its new Olympic Information Center, using space and staff donated by the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce. Community volunteers will also staff the center.
County supervisors approved a $4.7 million infusion of funds to aid mental health programs in the Children's Home Society in Arcadia. The Children's Home Society, a non-profit organization that places mentally disturbed children in foster homes, will now lose $16,000, instead of the anticipated loss of staff and $32,000.
One hundred stuffed teddy bears were donated to the police department. All of the squad cars will carry the bears and give them to children who have been involved in accidents or other traumatic incidents.
Arcadia city staff is preparing an Exclusive Right to Negotiate with Emkay Development Co. to build a 7-story hotel, restaurant, and 3 office buildings north of Huntington Dr. in East Arcadia.
Hoping to improve the Dial-A-Ride system City Council has authorized staff to negotiate a contract with Community Transit Services, Inc., dial-a-ride specialists. The city expects to purchase three vans.
City Council granted Temple Shaarei Tikvah Synagogue the right to operate a preschool for children between the ages of 2 1/2 and 5. Public debate on the matter is reviewed.
Vatar Kilbashian, of Huntington Jewelers, and his family have vanished. They left, supposedly on vacation, stating their intention to return on January 5. They did not return. A half million dollars in jewelry in missing. Kilbashian also left behind thousands of dollars in bad checks.
Arcadia City Council members decided to wait a month before signing an "exclusive right to negotiate agreement" for the development of city-owned property at 620 East Live Oak Avenue, site of the Par Three Golf Course.